Strength of an Uncooked Spaghetti

Aim: To investigate and determine the relationship between the length of uncooked spaghetti and the load applied to it reaching its [uncooked spaghetti’s] breaking point. General background: Regular wheat pastas i.e. pastas that need cooking for consumption can be made simply by mixing wheat flour with water, then extruding into pasta shapes and drying. The resulting pasta has good strength, with good cooked firmness and low cooking losses.

The strength of an object can be affected by various factors, such as: size, mass, temperature and many more.

However, when it comes to the case of uncooked spaghetti, there are two main factors which affect the strength of uncooked spaghetti.

These are: the length of uncooked spaghetti and the cross-sectional area of uncooked spaghetti. In this experiment, I will investigate the effect the length of uncooked spaghetti has on its strength. Hypothesis: I predict that the longest piece of uncooked spaghetti will be more fragile and brittle compared to the shorter pieces of uncooked spaghetti. This means that the length of uncooked spaghetti will be inversely proportional to its strength i.e. the shorter the piece of uncooked spaghetti the stronger it would be and vice – versa.

Independent Variables: The independent variable in this experiment was the known length of the piece of uncooked spaghetti. Dependent Variables: In this experiment, the dependent variable was the volume of water added to the plastic cup suspended on the piece of uncooked spaghetti. Controlled Variables: The controlled variables involved in this experiment were: the cross – sectional area of the spaghetti i.

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e. the same type of spaghetti was used meaning with the same thickness and the temperature at which the experiment was conducted.

First I took two small tables and placed them parallel to each other. Then using pieces of cello tape I clamped the two ends of a piece of spaghetti of known length to the two tables. Then I measured the mass of the plastic container used in the experiment. I tied two pieces of string to both sides of the container and rested it over the piece of spaghetti. Then I filled the measuring cylinder with 25 cm3 of water and poured it into the plastic container. If the piece of spaghetti did not break due to this, I filled the measuring cylinder again and poured more water into the container.

I calculated the volume of water added to the container before the spaghetti broke and noted down my readings. 5. All the above steps were repeated for various lengths of spaghettis i.e. 23 cm, 20 cm, 17 cm, 14 cm, 11 cm and 8 cm. 6. Thereafter, I carried out the calculations needed using the above collected readings which are outlined in the following pages. The length of the piece of uncooked spaghetti was varied by moving the small tables closer to or farther from each other, depending on what the span of the spaghetti had to be. And the length of the spaghetti used was measured using a measuring tape.

The volume of water added to the plastic container resting over the piece of uncooked spaghetti was measured using a measuring cylinder and then added to the container. I made sure that my eye level was perpendicular to the mark on the scale towards which the lower meniscus of the water pointed. Since the same type of spaghetti was used, the thickness i.e. the cross-sectional area of the spaghetti was kept constant hence, not affecting the readings obtained. The temperature at which all the experiments were conducted also remained constant in the room and this was made sure by constantly measuring the temperature of the room every 15 minutes and noting down the temperatures.